In Other Words

‘The Book of Jezebel,’ ‘The Horologicon’ and ‘Wordbirds’

If you’ve ever doubted that individual words can be a window into a whole culture, “The Book of Jezebel,” “The Horologicon” and “Wordbirds” will change your mind.

“The Book of Jezebel” is drawn from the energetic contributors to the Jezebel.com blog, and its editor, Anna Holmes (who is also a columnist for The New York Times Book Review), takes care to note that what appears to be a colorful encyclopedia is actually a work of both fact and opinion. Strong opinion.

Holmes’s book catalogs the history of women’s lives, real and imagined, mixing serious entries on Gertrude Stein and “The Color Purple” with those on celebrities (the comedian Chelsea Handler), pop “cult classics” (the movie “Clueless”) and whimsical characters like Mrs. Claus (pictured as a long-suffering, merlot-downing, country music fan) and Miss Piggy (“who may suffer from some kind of mood disorder”). Although it doesn’t set out to make a study of words, the book does show how seemingly innocuous terms (“injustice,” “income,” “picky”) can be loaded with a forceful point of view — in this case, snarky, strident and left-leaning. On Chelsea Clinton: “We would vote for her for anything, up to and including Queen of the World.” On Ann Coulter: “Subsists on a diet of kittens.” It’s also clear that Jezzies know how to hold a grudge. (See the references to Scott Baio and his wife, who engaged in a feud with a Jezebel writer.)

Inevitably for a work of this size, there are a few perplexing items. What iced coffee has to do with anything Jezebellian, I can’t say. Anna Nicole Smith is mentioned in passing — but when I looked for her own entry, I came up empty. ­(Holmes does note in her introduction that even though there are over a thousand entries, “due to space limitations and general forgetfulness, some people and subjects are missing.”)

Photo

Jezebellian: A poster from the 1938 film.Credit
Photofest

“The Book of Jezebel” will certainly please fans of the website. And a timid 20-something who needs a little more attitude in her life may find it inspiring, as may a 40-something TV writer struggling to depict a scrappy group of city gals.

Although “The Book of Jezebel” is best for browsing, once you pick up “The Horologicon” it’s hard to put down. As a devotee of useful tips, I approached Mark Forsyth’s book with skepticism. Scanning the promotional copy on the back cover, I wasn’t tempted to trudge through definitions of words like “philogrobolized” and “deipnosophist.” Surely, I would never use them — unless my aim were to annoy my companions. Although I’m interested in etymology, I prefer to learn about words I may have some hope of fitting into a sentence. Nevertheless, after just a few pages Forsyth had roped me in with his masterly prose, and I eagerly continued on his guided tour through the museum that is the English language.

At times it seems as if the words in “The Horologicon” have been chosen just so Forsyth can have an excuse to talk about the fascinating details he’s discovered in the lives of our ancestors. Who knew that long ago you could work as a human alarm clock (a “knocker-up”), walking through villages at dawn “tapping on people’s bedroom windows with a special stick”? Or that in ancient Greece there was a slave called an analecta, whose sole job was “to gather up bread crumbs after a meal”?

I can imagine a fiction writer devouring “The Horologicon” to steal delightful terms or find inspiration for populating imaginary worlds — the “dayening” and “early bright” at dawn; “ale-passion” to describe a hangover; “considering glass” as a synonym for mirror; “chorking” to summon the sound of walking in wet shoes; and “elf-locks” evoking messy morning hair. All these words could have been plucked from a fantasy novel rather than real life.

Photo

“Wordpecker,” a loud or emphatic typist; from “Wordbirds.”

“The Horologicon” will be as engrossing for people interested in history and culture as it is for those who love words. It’s the best word-themed book I’ve read in years and (heads up!) will be in many of the bow-bedecked packages I send out this winter.

“The Horologicon” hangs its words on the flow of a day’s activities, which creates a story the reader feels compelled to follow, while Liesl Schillinger’s “Wordbirds” embraces the theme of birds. Lovely illustrations accompany the entries, but although the artist, Elizabeth Zechel, has tried to depict the meaning of the words, the connection often feels forced. You get the feeling that the birds exist only to fill space and honor Schillinger’s blog, which is also titled “Wordbirds” and employs the same shtick.

The bird distraction is a shame. While “The Horologicon” shines a light on the past, “Wordbirds” does the same for our times, in the tradition of Snig­lets. Who in the ancient world of “The Horologicon” would have guessed we’d need the word “brightbite” to describe someone who has overbleached his or her teeth, or “earduds” to describe people who tune out the world with earbuds?

In “The Horologicon,” Forsyth takes a historical approach, including words from a variety of records and sources. On the other hand, “Wordbirds” relies on the observations of one writer and her readers, who are encouraged to contribute — so no doubt some words will fail to describe instantly recognizable situations. Each reader is likely to latch on to a few favorites, though. I was happy to have the phrase “mood hair” to describe a coiffure that fades and returns to vibrancy through the coloring cycle. As one of the few people in my peer group not to have children, I nodded knowingly at the entries on “tyrannitots” and being “lototimized” (adult distraction when confronted with yammering tots). Living in a tourist town, I was shouting, “Yes! A thousand times, yes!” to “sideblockers,” defined as “pedestrians who walk aimlessly or slowly on sidewalks and public thoroughfares, usually accompanied by a cluster of similarly clueless pals.”

All said, there are worse ways to spend a few hours than leafing through “Wordbirds.” The same way a golfing theme can get certain family members to pick up a book and start browsing, “Wordbirds” might well be literary catnip for bird lovers who also find themselves fascinated — or annoyed — by the quirks of modern life.

THE BOOK OF JEZEBEL

An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Lady Things

Edited by Anna Holmes

Written by Kate Harding and Amanda Hess

300 pp. Grand Central Publishing. $27.

THE HOROLOGICON

A Day’s Jaunt Through the Lost Words of the English Language

By Mark Forsyth

286 pp. Berkley Books. Paper, $16.

WORDBIRDS

An Irreverent Lexicon for the 21st Century

By Liesl Schillinger

Illustrated by Elizabeth Zechel

206 pp. Simon & Schuster. $17.99.

Mignon Fogarty is the founder of the Quick and Dirty Tips website and podcast series and the author of several books, including “Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing.”

A version of this review appears in print on December 22, 2013, on Page BR19 of the Sunday Book Review with the headline: In Other Words. Today's Paper|Subscribe